The voltage across my leisure battery is 11.68V to me this means it's more or less dead. Is there something specific about leisure batteries that means this is OK?
Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G9600 using Tapatalk
ozziedog said:the middle of Lidl
fallingoffalot said:Left off overnight and was seeing 12.89v this morning, looks promising. I will check if there is a current draw if the voltage has dropped - I can't think of anything that would cause this though.
sparkywig said:If it's a high ampere/hour rating it won't fully charge using the split-charge system, you'll need to charge it using a stand alone charger.
I fully charge my 115ah every couple of months.
cunning plan said:sparkywig said:If it's a high ampere/hour rating it won't fully charge using the split-charge system, you'll need to charge it using a stand alone charger.
I fully charge my 115ah every couple of months.
This must depend how much the Leisure Battery is used, right? If it is hardly used and your just using your bus for day trips, but not using components that use the Leisure Battery, then even if you only had 1amp coming from the split charge, the battery would eventually fully charge? It would be the equivalent of having it on a trickle charger.
Although, what you said makes sense if you are driving for a couple of hours at a 50-70amp charge from the split charge, then stop somewhere and heavily use the battery down to say 20% capacity, then drive back again for a couple of hours, it would make sense that there will never be enough charge to charge it up to full. arty0021:
sparkywig said:And although charging from the alternator is sufficient to maintain a charge, the technical disadvantage of an alternator is it never fully charges the leisure battery to its full capacity as the charge voltage is cut off prematurely.
sparkywig said:cunning plan said:sparkywig said:If it's a high ampere/hour rating it won't fully charge using the split-charge system, you'll need to charge it using a stand alone charger.
I fully charge my 115ah every couple of months.
This must depend how much the Leisure Battery is used, right? If it is hardly used and your just using your bus for day trips, but not using components that use the Leisure Battery, then even if you only had 1amp coming from the split charge, the battery would eventually fully charge? It would be the equivalent of having it on a trickle charger.
Although, what you said makes sense if you are driving for a couple of hours at a 50-70amp charge from the split charge, then stop somewhere and heavily use the battery down to say 20% capacity, then drive back again for a couple of hours, it would make sense that there will never be enough charge to charge it up to full. arty0021:
Unless you've got a modern high end marine split charge system fitted, it won't fully charge a high amp/hour leisure battery, especially if it's been deep discharged.
The starter battery is charged first, so that takes about an hour of driving to top that up after starting.
And although charging from the alternator is sufficient to maintain a charge, the technical disadvantage of an alternator is it never fully charges the leisure battery to its full capacity as the charge voltage is cut off prematurely. So the alternator will give a maximum charge to within 80% of the leisure battery's original capacity, and over a period of time this can cause sulphation of the plates due to under charging.
The best way to keep a leisure battery in condition is to occasionally boost charge it with a stand-alone mains charger with a sufficient Ah rating.
Enter your email address to join: